The Impacts of Gender Bias on Society

Gender bias exists in every aspect of society—from the workplace to the political arena. The gender gap affects our childrens education, the size of the paycheck we bring home, and why women still lag behind men in certain careers. Sexism in Politics As media coverage of female politicians has proven in recent elections, gender bias has crossed the aisle and it is not as rare as we might hope. It has challenged Democrats and Republicans, touched candidates in presidential, congressional, and local elections, and has been witnessed toward nominees for high government positions. 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was noted as a former beauty queen and subject to other remarks, neither of which had nothing to do with her 2008 run.Hilary Clinton fell victim to misogyny countless times in both her 2008 and 2016 bids for the White House.During her 2009 confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor was asked by Senator Lindsey Graham about a temperament problem and he later referred to a possible meltdown.A 2001 mayoral candidate in Allentown, Pennsylvania was publicly asked about her measurements before a delivering speech. These bring up the question that if any of these women had been men, would they have been  subjected to the same treatment? Sexism in politics is real and, unfortunately, we see it on a regular basis. Gender Bias in the Media Do women see themselves accurately reflected on television and film, in advertising, and in print and broadcast news? Most would say that they dont, but that it is improving. Maybe thats because only a small percentage of media decision-makers—those with enough clout to determine content—are female. If you want to find news about womens issues and from a female perspective,  there are a handful of outlets you can turn to. Traditional outlets are getting better at handling bias, though some womens advocates feel that it is still not enough. The members of the media often become the headlines themselves. Rush Limbaugh infamously has had a number of comments about women which many people have found inflammatory and derogatory. ESPNs Erin Andrews was the victim of a famous peephole incident in 2008. And in 2016 and 17, Fox News was plagued with sexual harassment allegations against leaders in the broadcast company. Beyond the news media, some women also find issue with other types of programming. For example, teen pregnancy shows on television raise the question of whether they are glorifying the issue or helping with abstinence. In other instances, shows may insensitively handle female body image issues such as weight. Older women can also be portrayed in negative ways and, in some cases, lose their jobs in media because theyre no longer young enough. Inequality at Work Why do women still earn only 80 cents for every dollar men earn? The primary reason is that its due to gender bias in the workplace and this is an issue that affects everyone. Reports do show that the pay gap between men and women is improving. In the 1960s, American women made just 60 percent on average as their male colleagues. By 2015, that had increased to an 80 percent average nationwide, though some states are not yet near that mark. Much of this decrease in the pay gap is attributed to women seeking higher levels of employment. Today, more women are entering fields in science and technology and becoming leaders in business and industry. There are also a number of careers in which women do make more than men. Inequality in the workplace extends beyond how much money we make. Sexual discrimination and harassment remain hot topics for working women. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act is designed to protect against employment discrimination, but it does not protect every woman and cases can be difficult to prove. Higher education is another venue in which gender and race bias remain a factor. A 2014 study suggests that on the university level, even well-intentioned academic professionals can demonstrate a preference toward white men. Looking Forward at Gender Bias The good news in all of this is that womens issues remain at the forefront of dialogue in the United States. Progress has been made over the last few decades and much of it is very significant. Advocates continue to push against bias and it remains a right of every woman to be able to stand up for herself and others. If people stop speaking out, these matters will continue and we cannot work on what remains to be done for true equality. Sources The American Association of University Women (AAUW). The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap. 2017.Milkman KL, Akinola M, Chugh D.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"What Happens Before? A Field Experiment Exploring How Pay and Representation Differentially Shape Bias on the Pathway into Organizations.† Journal of Applied Psychology. 2015;100(6):1678-712.Ward M. 10 Jobs Where Women Earn More Than Men. CNBC. 2016.

You Might Want to Do Some Introspection Free Essays

You might want to do some introspection. For each of the eight intelligences in the Howard Gardner list, think about your own level of talents and performance. For each intelligence, decide if you have an area of expertise that makes substantial use of the intelligence. We will write a custom essay sample on You Might Want to Do Some Introspection or any similar topic only for you Order Now For example, perhaps you are good at music. If so, is music the basis of your vocation? Students can also do this type of introspection, and it can become a routine component of PBL lessons. Students can come to understand that they are more naturally gifted in some areas than in others, but that they have some talent in all of the eight areas identified by Howard Gardner. Curriculum and instruction can be developed to help all students make progress in enhancing their talents in each of these eight areas of intelligence. Robert Sternberg Many teachers have provided testimonial evidence that PBL encourages participation on the part of their students who do not have a high level of â€Å"school smarts. They report that some of their students who were not doing well in school have become actively engaged and experienced a high level of success in working on projects. These observations are consistent with and supportive of the research of Robert Sternberg. As noted earlier in this chapter, different researchers have identified different components of intelligence. Sternberg (1988, 1997) focuses on just three main components: Practical intelligence–the ability to do well in informal and formal educational settings; adapting to and shaping one’s environment; street smarts. Experiential intelligence–the ability to deal with novel situations; the ability to effectively automate ways of dealing with novel situations so they are easily handled in the future; the ability to think in novel ways. Componential intelligence–the ability to process information effectively. This includes metacognitive, executive, performance, and knowledge-acquisition components that help to steer cognitive processes. Sternberg provides examples of people who are quite talented in one of these areas but not so talented in the other two. In that sense, his approach to the field of intelligence is somewhat like Howard Gardner’s. However, you can see that Sternberg does not focus on specific components of intelligence that are aligned with various academic disciplines. He is far more concerned with helping people develop components of intelligence that will help them to perform well in whatever they chose to do. Sternberg strongly believes that intelligence can be increased by study and practice. Quite a bit of his research focuses on such endeavors. Some of Sternberg’s work focuses specifically on â€Å"street smarts† versus â€Å"school smarts. He notes that some people are particularly talented in one of these two areas, and not in the other. This observation is consistent with the work of Lev Vygotsky (Fosnot, 1996) who argues that the type of learning that goes on outside of school is distinctly different than the type of learning that goes on in school. While some students are talented in bo th informal and formal education, others are much more successful in one rather than the other. A teacher who is skillful in developing PBL can help students to design projects that are consistent with their learning abilities and interests. David Perkins In his 1992 book, Smart Schools, David Perkins analyzes a number of different educational theories and approaches to education. His analysis is strongly supportive of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Perkins’ book contains extensive research-based evidence that education can be considerably improved by more explicit and appropriate teaching for transfer, focusing on higher-order cognitive skills, and the use of project-based learning. Perkins (1995) examines a large number of research studies both on the measurement of IQ and of programs of study designed to increase IQ. He presents detailed arguments that IQ has three major components or dimensions. Neural intelligence. This refers to the efficiency and precision of one’s neurological system. Experiential intelligence. This refers to one’s accumulated knowledge and experience in different areas. It can be thought of as the accumulation of all of one’s expertises. Reflective intelligence. This refers to one’s broad-based strategies for attacking problems, for learning, and for approaching intellectually challenging tasks. It includes attitudes that support persistence, systemization, and imagination. It includes self-monitoring and self-management. There is substantial evidence to support the belief that a child’s neural intelligence can be adversely affected by the mother’s use of drugs such as alcohol and cocaine during pregnancy. Lead (such as from lead-based paint) can do severe neural damage to a person. Vitamins, or the lack thereof, can affect neural intelligence. Moreover, there is general agreement that neural intelligence has a â€Å"use it or lose it† characteristic. It is clear that neural intelligence can be maintained and, indeed, increased, by use. How to cite You Might Want to Do Some Introspection, Papers